


Just Another Day

by AKA_47



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Post-Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2797457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKA_47/pseuds/AKA_47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mac knew that it was going to be a long several months when she told Will she was pregnant, and she is at her wit's end when Will takes his job as director of morale a little too seriously. Even as she tries to calm him down though, Mac secretly loves how much he cares, which is what makes it so hard to argue with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Another Day

**Author's Note:**

> Because I like when Mac is frustrated, and the finale makes it abundantly clear that Will is going to annoy the shit out of her while she's pregnant, I decided to write this. (Also because I've basically written a story every day and I've been having a lot of fun doing it). In keeping with my (sort of) pattern of naming these from musicals the title comes from a song in the musical Next to Normal, which again has nothing to do with the story.

“Will said he googled it and--”

“Jenna, don’t take this the wrong way, but if you come in here again I will murder you.” There was no trace of jest in her voice as Mac looked up from her computer to see Jenna in her office for what must have been the tenth time that day.

“Is there a good way to take that?” Jenna asked, hiding her notes behind her back as though that would somehow abate Mac’s anger.

Mac crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair, “I’m afraid not. It’s a case of shoot the messenger. I can’t exactly shoot Will. People would notice.” She threw the girl a smile. It wasn’t her fault that Will had taken as his personal mission to think of every possible worst case scenario for Mac’s pregnancy and then google the hypothetical solutions. It wasn’t her fault that he researched healthy diets and sent Jenna promptly to the store and then to Mac’s office (as though he had ever paid attention to anything to do with health before, as though she needed help making good decisions).

“Tell Will that he’s not a doctor and that I have work to do.”

Jenna smiled apologetically as she slipped out of the office. Mac looked at the monitors on the opposite wall. Washington was up right now, but News Night would be starting soon, and she had no idea why Will couldn’t just focus on the script and leave her alone. She swore no one bothered Charlie as much as they interrupted her. She couldn’t blame them really (except Will. She could _and would_ blame Will). Jim had questions. Even if she suspected he knew most of the answers before he even knocked on her door, he came up anyway. It was all new and Will was being difficult (“it’s just because you’re not me, Jim. He’s slow to change. He’ll get used to it”). Maggie called because she’d never lived in DC before and she was afraid she was royally screwing up her job as field producer. She wasn’t. Sloan came in because no one else would listen to her drone on about whatever economic story she thought was paramount for more than ten seconds at a time. Don visited to figure out what the hell to do with Sloan.

Then of course there was Pruitt, who called with ideas that made it clear exactly how much actual news he consumed on a regular basis (none) and how much crap he read on the internet. She tried not to call him an idiot, she really did. It didn’t always work. She’d never had much of a filter. If she was supposed to be in charge of keeping a sinking ship afloat then she didn’t feel very successful. She felt like she hadn’t even picked up the bucket.

There was a timid knock on her door and Mac hung her head in her hands as she called, “come in.”

Jenna edged in, clearing her throat, “Will said, and I’m quoting, so please don’t kill me, ‘as director of morale I have certain responsibilities…’”

“That’s it!” Mac stood up, sending her chair flying into the back wall. She stomped out of her office, leaving Jenna dumbfounded. She was all the way to the elevator before the girl caught up with her.

“He’s in the middle of a show,” her words slipped to a faint whisper as she caught Mac’s glare.

“I know exactly where he is,” she fumed, jabbing at the button.

When the elevator came Jenna looked very much like she would prefer to wait for the next one, but Mac pulled her inside, heel tapping rhythmically at the floor. “It’s not just at work you know.” She turned to Jenna as soon as the doors closed.

Jenna nodded, looking at her shoes.

“I just want you to know that this isn’t me overreacting. Believe me, any rational person would have strangled him by now. You have no idea.”

“I’m sure he’s just trying to take care of you,” Jenna tried. She glanced up to see that none of the blush had receded from Mac’s face, in fact, it may have gotten worse.

“I know what he’s doing!” Mac shouted just as the doors opened, and she lowered her voice to a stage whisper as Jenna reluctantly followed her through the bullpen. “And it was sweet. For the first few days. It’s still sweet, except that it’s suffocating.”

Jenna nodded reluctantly, but it didn’t matter if she was listening or not because Mac was on a rant and she couldn’t stop the words as they spilled out of her mouth. “I mean, he can’t actually be this ignorant about pregnancy, can he? He walks around like he thinks I’m about to spontaneously combust. He barely lets me move. That’s not normal. I don’t have much experience, but it can’t be normal.”

Jenna glanced around frantically, searching for escape. “Tamara! You needed me?” Jenna called across the room. Mac glanced over to see Tamara’s bewildered look, making it obvious that she hadn’t even spoken to Jenna recently. “I’m so sorry.” She said, with a relief that Mac heard clear as day. She practically ran to Tamara’s side.

“Coward.” Mac mumbled, pushing her way into the control room.

Jim glanced up as she entered. A smile started to form until he caught sight of her expression and it quickly fell away. “You okay?” He asked.

“Fine. I just need the headset for a minute. Would that be all right?”

“Of course,” if Jim was confused he didn’t show it, he handed her his headset and she put it on, stepping closer to the monitors. Will was interviewing a senator about his latest bill, but politicians took any opportunity for a monologue that they could, and the senator had clearly just launched into one.

“Will?” She watched the surprise flicker across his features at the sound of her voice in his ear.

“I may be pregnant, I may be your wife, but I am also the president of the news division and so help me God if you do not let me do my job I will make your life a living hell, and you know I can because I am pregnant, I’m your wife, and I’m the president of the news division. Understand?”

It was clearly not what he’d been expecting when he’d heard her voice, but for the briefest of seconds his eyes flicked to the camera, and she knew that he’d heard. She took the headset off and handed it to Jim, flashing him a beatific smile. “Done.”

She caught the grins of the staff and returned them. Sometimes she really missed arguing with Will in front of them. She wasn’t sure what that said about her, but she shrugged it off.

She was feeling pretty pleased with herself as she strode purposefully out of the control room and back out to the bullpen, but she caught sight of Sloan (and more importantly Sloan caught sight of her), and she deflated a little, knowing that she would be stuck down there for a while.

“Kenzie!” Sloan smiled like she hadn’t seen Mac in years, though it had only been a few hours since her last trip up to the office.

“Sloan, I really can’t stay. I have so much to do.” Mac pointed to the elevator.

“Of course,” Sloan stood in front of her exit path, completely oblivious. “Why are you even down here? Oh, Will must be in trouble. He’s in trouble right? What did he do?”

“Nothing really. It doesn’t matter. I have to go to my office.”

“Good, I’ll come with you.” Mac bit down the urge to yell as Sloan followed her to the elevators. “I bet Will did something. I bet he did something really annoying. He’s hovering right? He seems like he’s hovering. I mean, I’m not around you guys all the time or anything, and you don’t work on the same floor anymore, but he seems like he would hover. He’s really excited. We’re all really excited. Do you have any thoughts on godparents? Because I would make an excellent godmother. I’m basically Will’s sister, his other sister, I know he has actual sisters, but I’m his work sister and you’re my best friend so I think that puts me in the running right? Have I mentioned how excited I am?”

Mac sighed, turning to Sloan and holding her at arm’s length, “Will’s not in trouble. No, I haven’t thought about godparents since no one’s even supposed to know I’m pregnant yet, and I _really_ need to get some work done. Alone.”

Sloan blinked, letting the words sink in. After a few seconds under Mac’s pleading stare, she nodded. “Got it, Boss. No distractions.”

Mac smiled at her, grateful for the emptiness of the elevator as she made her way back to the office and the pile of work there was still left to do before she went home.

Will didn’t come to her office that night after the broadcast. She startled when she looked at her watch and realized it was ten o’clock. She stretched for the first time in hours, grabbed some files from her desk and made her way sleepily downstairs. Most of the staff had gone home, or to Hang Chews, but she noticed that the light in Will’s office was on and she knocked on his door before letting herself in.

Will had his feet propped up on the desk, a novel in his hands. “Reading for pleasure?” Mackenzie asked, surprised.

He closed the book, swinging his legs back to the floor. “Figured I’d put a moratorium on Google searches for a while, seeing as you’ll make my life a living hell.”

There was no malice in his words, but she looked down, embarrassed. “That probably wasn’t how I should have told you.”

Will stood, grabbing his coat and briefcase. “Apology accepted.”

Mac bristled in spite of herself, “I wasn’t apologizing.”

His eyebrows shot up, “Okay. Feel free to anytime.”

“Oh, don’t even pretend to be offended. You’ve had Jenna trekking up to my office every five minutes to check on me. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time, Billy. I’m pretty good at it.”

Will looked her over, feigning assessment, “debatable.”

She bit at her smile. “You know, it’s hard to tell if you’re trying to stop this argument or make it worse.”

“We were arguing? I had no idea.”

Mac opened her mouth to argue, but he caught her in a kiss, and her words were hopelessly lost. Instead, she wound her arms around his neck. “Doesn’t feel much like an argument,” he whispered against her lips as they broke apart.

“I know you can take care of _yourself,_ Mackenzie, but it’s not just you that you’re taking care of now.” Slowly, as if he wasn’t sure that he could, as if the idea were still too magical to contemplate, he laid his palm against her stomach. She brought her hand down to meet his and all trace of whatever meager fight had been left in her disappeared.

“Will…”

“I know, Mac.” He smiled at her. “I’m still trying to figure out how to do this. I know you. You don’t ask for help when you need it. You like to do it all on your own. I’m just trying to make sure you know you don’t have to.”

She wanted to kiss him again. His speeches had a way of doing that to her. Damn him. He made it so impossible to stay mad. “It’s not that I want to do it on my own,” she explained. “I’ve had to for a long time. I’ll do better, less, I’ll do less on my own.”

He shot her a skeptical glance.

“I’ll try,” Mac amended, keeping their hands together as she walked out of the office.

“And I’ll calm down,” Will promised.

It was Mac’s turn for skepticism.

“What? Ye of little faith.”

She laughed, resting her head against his shoulder. “Just do me a favor.”

“Isn’t that what this ‘argument’ is all about? Anything.”

“Don’t stop worrying entirely okay? It’s cute.”

Will brushed his lips against the top of her head, “not a chance.”

 

 

 


End file.
